As you read in my 20,000 mile checkup Blog, my brakes were at the end of life. I spent the next few weeks trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I had a few options, replace with factory brakes, go one step further can get the same OEM size, but a more performance brake, or go all the way to a full big brake kit. There are pros and cons to each option. Direct factory replacement, thats fine for a stock Jeep but I have larger tires, and I carry more weight with off road gear and camping gear, running at max weight. Going to a bigger brake has its advantages as it has better stopping power, but to me a big downside is that to get replacement parts are not easy. You cannot get pads or rotors at a local auto store, you will have to go to an off road shop or mail order, So if your in a remote location that not near a distribution center for an off road shop your dead in the water or you need to cary a spare set. Also these parts are far more expensive.

I knew that I didn’t want to go with a factory replacement, and not sure what big brake kit to get, I decided to go with Power Stop Brakes. These are slotted rotors which help with cooling and the pads are made of better compound. In the event that I need to replace these, I can go to a local shop and get what they have in stock as I am not changing the caliper or caliper bracket. When I priced out getting a pad/rotor set from my local auto parts store, the Power Stop were just a few dollars more expensive from Amazon.

Sine we are just replacing pads and rotors, this is a daily simple job. We did film this for YouTube so the process did take longer than normal, but it was a fun afternoon with Dee and TJ. Because dee is the Expeditor Team Mechanic, he had the honors of leading this install, I was there to help and TJ was the camera man.

Before we started, using the old brakes, I did a few high speed stop tests. I used a iPhone app that uses GPS and “G” force. I will do the same test once the new brakes are broken in.

First we state out with jacking up the front of the jeep. We did the fronts first then the rear.

Pro Tip: Remember when jacking up any vehicle, make sure your on a level spot and chock the the tires that are not getting jacked up. Use a properly weight rated jack stands, and make sure they are in good working order. Accidents can happen and when they do they can be deadly. Once the vehicle is jacked up, before you get under it, shake it a few times and make sure that it is secure. Do not leave a vehicle suspended in the air with a jack alone, use the jack stands, you can leave the jack holding some weight as added security.

These rotors are far “beefier” than the factory, and the slotted adds ventilation to help cool then. The pads also look like they have serious stoping power!

The only issues that we had with this, and good thing we did this on a Saturday, the passenger rear caliper brake was seised and we could not get the caliper pins out to inspect and add grease. My local Jeep Dealer had the part unstuck and we were Abel to run over and get a new one. Also the passenger rear pad was comply falling apart, not sure how much longer that was going to last, but I am very happy that we are replacing them.

Power Stop has a very specific break in period for these brakes. It is hard to find a location where you meet the exact process, but we did the best in my neighborhood. The process is a few high speed stops high speed to slow speed stops and then driving around with no stops to get cool air over sth pads and rotors. During this process you can smell the pads braking in, it has a clutch or subway brake smell. That only lasted while we were doing the break in, and the next day I did not smell anything.